Fabric Collage and Old Photos

Hello to all! I hope that you are doing well and are looking forward to the long weekend.

In my first posts I shared my interest in gardening and my love of antiques with you. I thought that today I would show you a little of the fabric collage work that I love to do. It is nothing that you haven't seen before, but I love old photos, lace, buttons and all manner of fabric scraps. I do not use a lot of color in my home decor, but I do love to use it in some of my art (though I do love whites and beige's as well).

Last year I was lucky to have been invited to write an article about some fabric collage pieces that I had sent to Sew Somerset, and the article appeared in the Summer, 2011 issue. It was so exciting to know that this wonderful publication wanted to share my art with others. Previously, some of my other submissions had been published in other publications, but to be able to write a four-page article for the first time was just an incredible experience. Of course any of us that send in submissions to any magazine know that not everything is chosen for publication, and I look at that as a learning experience and try to move forward. Shown below are some pieces that did not get accepted for publication, but I thought that I would share them with you anyway. There is another one in the set which I will share at a later date.

What is it about old photos that intrigues us so? Do we wonder who the people in the pictures were? Do we wonder what became of their lives? Do we wonder why their photos ended up in a dusty box in an antique store? Did future generations of the folks in the pictures inherit the pictures, not know who the the people in them were, and decide to make a few bucks off the deal by selling them? For me, I think part of the intrigue is that before too long there will be no more "old photos". Many of my family pictures taken in the 80's now show faded color, not having worn well at all. Old black and whites from an earlier time seem to have worn better. And the really old ones in sepia seem to have fared the best. I have many old family photos taken 100 years ago that look better than those taken in modern times. Worse yet, what will happen to photos taken with a cell phone? Where will they go and how will they fare? I like to think that I, for one, am the caregiver to my instant ancestors (as well as my real ones) and that they are up there watching down seeing that the time that they had to sit and wait for the photographer to ready his camera and perfect the pose was not for naught.




The picture used in this collage is one of the favorites of
my collection. I think the mom and daughter are beautiful.
I am sharing a scan of the original photo below for you to use 
as you like.





I loved this photo of the lady in the big hat. I am also sharing
this photo below. Note that it is the reverse of what you see on
the collage since I had printed it out on a transparency. It may
need some darkening up.



 Please feel free to use the photos as you wish, as they are very old and out of the realm of copyright laws I would think.

Have an artistic and creative day!

Sue